Illegal immigrants forced to swim to shore in Johor, 24 believed missing

KOTA TINGGI: About 24 people are missing after a boatload of Indonesians were forced to swim to shore while trying to enter Johor illegally.

It is learnt that the boat operator forced passengers to jump off the boat and swim to shore, despite the fact that some of them could not swim.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Johor deputy operations director Sanifah Yusof said the incident happened at around 7.03am on July 28, about 11 nautical miles off Tanjung Penyusop here.

"Five of them managed to swim to shore while three others drowned,'' he said in a statement released here on Saturday.

Sanifah said the survivors comprise two women and three men while one woman and two men drowned.

He said MMEA had also received calls from the public who found five survivors along the Tanjung Penyusop beach.

He added that after speaking to the survivors, authorities believe there are about 24 people missing.

Sanifah said the search and rescue operation to locate the missing Indonesians was activated at about 7.15am involving 36 personnel from the MMEA, police, Fire and Rescue Department and military.